During the Storm
by Magixis96
Summary: Minato just came back from school after running through the storm that has hit Port Island. After coming down with a sickness, everyone is very concerned, especially his senpai, Akihiko. While the storm is raging outside, there's a storm of hidden feelings raging inside the two boys.
1. Chapter 1

The First Night

Date: Friday, September 18th.

Returning home from Gekkoukan High, Minato makes it back to the dorm, but not before he is completely drenched from the storm that is currently raging outside. His body can't help but shiver erratically.

"You weren't quick enough, huh" Questioned Junpei, sitting at the lounge along with the other SEES members. Minato walked over to join the others, standing next to Junpei with his hands in his pockets.

"According to the news, a typhoon just hit. Supposedly, it's the biggest one on record. It's moving slowly, too, so it'll be around for a while…" Fuuka started, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, thanks to that, the school festival got canceled. Well, setting all that stuff up is a pain, so I don't mind." Junpei went on "But, it sucks that we'll be stuck indoors… So, how are you gonna spend your break?" Junpei asked Minato.

"I have no idea…" Minato answered, seeming out of it.

"Hey, dude, are you feeling alright?" Junpei asked.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going back to my room." Responded Minato, slowly shuffling away until he stopped after five steps. He placed his right hand onto his head.

"Huh? What's the matter, Minato-kun?" Yukari asked, sounding concerned.

With that, Minato fell onto the ground with a thud. Everyone was quite alarmed at this and shot up from their seats, rushing over to him.

"Oh my Gosh, Minato!" Shrieked Fuuka. Yukari put her hand on Minato's forehead, which felt extremely hot to the touch.

"He's burning up with a fever!" Yukari informed the others.

"Let's get him back to his room. He needs to rest." Mitsuru ordered. "Akihiko, may you carry him? He's in no condition to move on his own." Akihiko nodded and proceeded to pick him up, bridal style, being sure to not hurt Minato. Minato gave out a small grunt. He looked up towards Akihiko through half-open eyes. His face turned redder due to the position he was in, but no one could tell because of his fever.

The group made their way to the second floor and to Minato's room that was located all the way down the right side of the hall. Minato grunted slightly as he shuffled a bit in Akihiko's very strong arms.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Akihiko asked him very concerned, thinking he might have done something wrong. Minato merely pulled out his room's key out of his right pocket since he always kept it locked, even if he was in it. Minato weakly raised his arm up to hand it to Akihiko.

"Uh, Takeba, can you unlock it? I don't want to put Arisato down just yet." Akihiko asked Yukari. She nodded and took it from Minato's hand and opened the door.

"Akihiko can take care of the rest from here. Let's go, and Akihiko, just tell us if he needs anything." Mitsuru said to the others as Akihiko took Minato into his room. The others left with Mitsuru, hoping that Minato gets better soon.

Akihiko shut the door placed Minato onto his bed gently, hoping that Minato wasn't in any pain. "Are you… uh, alright?" Akihiko was trying not to sound flustered, in which he failed completely. Akihiko just now noticed that his abdomen was soaked from carrying Minato. He had forgotten that Minato was still drenched.

"Oh, crap. I forgot, sorry. I should get you into some dry clothes." He proceeded in doing so, taking off Minato's shoes and socks first. "Oh, wait a minute. I should find you a change of clothes first." Akihiko said, turning around thinking where he should look.

Minato let out a slight breath of air. "They're… I keep shirts in the top left drawer and pants on the top right one." Minato informed Akihiko in a tone that was barely above a whisper. His voice was becoming raspy.

"Oh thanks, but just try to relax right now." Responded Akihiko. He opened the drawers that had what he was looking for and became slightly surprised seeing how neat and organized everything was. They were all arranged by color and type of clothing. He picked up an indigo colored sweater and black pajama bottoms.

Akihiko wasn't paying attention previously, but now noticed that Minato's room was very neat and orderly, even if he didn't have too many belongings. His own room was cluttered with exercise equipment and he didn't even need to see Junpei's room to know that it was a disheveled disaster. The only thing that wasn't in order in Minato's room was the mess of papers, pens and pencils on his desk. Akihiko figured that he was very busy with schoolwork, but was still a little curious. He walked over to Minato and set the clothes aside on the bed so he could unbutton Minato's shirt. Minato put his hands on Akihiko's wrists.

"I-I can do it myself, senpai…" Minato said to him.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it." He retorted to the blue haired boy. He proceeded to unbutton Minato's shirt and pulled it off of him. Minato was drenched under his clothes as well, but Akihiko was paying more attention to Minato's physique. Minato was slim, and even though he wasn't as built as Akihiko was, you could clearly see lines to muscles on him. It must've been to all the nightly adventures into Tartarus that helped Minato get into better shape. His skin was also a bit pale around his torso and probably the rest of his body. Akihiko couldn't help but blush a little, especially since he had to get Minato's pants off now.

"Um, I've got to…" Started Akihiko.

"I'll do it, senpai. Just… turn around so I can hold onto your shoulder." Minato interrupted Akihiko. Minato always felt self-conscious about exposing his body to others. You could imagine how he felt when changing in the locker room for Kendo practice. Akihiko just silently agreed and turned around after standing up. Minato unbuttoned his pants, keeping his right hand on Akihiko's left shoulder. He wanted to help Minato since he could hear Minato struggling slightly to put on his pajama bottoms. Minato had almost no strength to keep himself standing up.

"Just let me help you, Arisato, and then I can leave you alone." Akihiko suggested to Minato while staying in the same positon.

"…alright fine." Minato finally caved in to let Akihiko help him and he plopped down onto his bed before his legs gave out. Akihiko turned around and tried hiding the blush that was quickly rising on his face from seeing Minato in his current state. Sure, it was something he had seen all the time in the gym and such, but he felt… different with Minato. He thought Minato looked really cute right now in his blue boxer briefs. But he also knew he should hurry up and go before he did something he would not be proud of. He knelt down, grabbed the pajama bottoms that were around Minato's ankles and pulled them up quickly. Next, he grabbed the sweater and pulled it down Minato's torso.

"T-thanks, senpai." Minato uttered in a low tone, having his eyes look away from him. He was lucky his fever was still able to hide his blushing.

"Y-yeah, of course. You can always count on me to help you." Akihiko said back to him. Akihiko's face was just a foot away from Minato's. Akihiko quickly stood up so he really didn't do anything he'd regret. Minato just glanced at him then looked away. Minato felt completely exhausted with the illness raging inside him like the typhoon outside. He placed his head onto his pillow and ended up falling asleep as soon as he felt its heavenly comfort.

Akihiko was looking away, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand when he noticed that Minato fell asleep. He walked over to him and pulled the covers over Minato, making sure he was nice and warm for the night. Akihiko couldn't help but stare at Minato, thinking he looked so cute asleep, but also thought it wasn't fair that the team's leader had to get such a bad illness. Akihiko ran his left hand over Minato's forehead, moving the hairs out of his face. His hair was still a little wet, making him think he should've have gotten a towel to dry him off. Akihiko didn't care if Minato was sick at the moment, he decided to give Minato a small kiss on the forehead. Akihiko blush wildly from embarrassment, thinking Minato might have known, but to his relief, he heard Minato letting out light snores, indicating that Minato was fast asleep. Akihiko gave a slight sigh of relief and grinned to himself.

"Please. Get better soon… Minato." Akihiko said as he started to walk over to the door. He grabbed the doorknob, but then looked back at Minato. He wanted to stay for a while longer, but thought it'd be better for him to get all the rest he needed and left. When he got outside, he saw Yukari walking down the stairs from the third floor.

"Oh, senpai. Is Minato-kun alright?" The concerned Yukari asked.

"Yeah, I changed his clothes and he fell asleep."

"Well, as long as he's okay right now, that's what matters."

"That's right. We have to make sure our leader gets back to full strength."


	2. Chapter 2

The Second Night

Date: Saturday, September 19th.

It was morning, approximately 10:30 A.M. The storm that hit the area yesterday afternoon was still raging, showing no signs of letting up soon. All the SEES members were sitting in the lounge, relatively silent. Every SEES members except their leader, Minato.

"Is Minato-kun doing any better, Sanada-san?" Ken asked Akihiko.

"I don't know. I left him alone this morning to make sure he got all the sleep he needed." Answered Akihiko.

"It was quite a surprise seeing him get so sick. I've never seen Minato-kun get sick, really." Fuuka added.

"With the situation as it is right now, we can only help aid him in his recovery, as well as make sure we don't go to Tartarus until a few days after he has a full recovery." Mitsuru informed the others.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Akihiko responded.

"Really, senpai? I thought you'd be upset that you couldn't go training." Yukari said to him.

"Well… we can't exactly explore the tower without having our leader along with us. I'll be just fine." He said back to her. "Actually, I think I should go check on him…"Akihiko continued, standing up and headed for the stairs.

"Perhaps that I should accompany him." Aigis said, standing up.

"Oh, no you don't, Aigis. You know that it's against the dorm rules for you to go into the boys' rooms." Yukari said to Aigis. Aigis sat down, defeated.

Akihiko made his way to Minato's room, stopping in front of it and knocking, seeing if Minato is awake or not. He waited a moment but didn't hear any response. Akihiko decided to go inside anyway to check up on him. He walked in and, to his surprise, Minato was awake, sitting upright.

"Oh! You're awake, Arisato…" Akihiko felt a little embarrassed just walking in with him awake. Minato just looked in his direction and nodded.

"Uh, how come you didn't respond when I knocked?" Akihiko was a little perplexed at the moment. Minato pointed his index finger towards his throat. Akihiko was looking at him very confused until he figured as to what Minato was trying to convey. It made him feel slightly idiotic for not immediately knowing.

"Your throat is too sore?" Akihiko questioned to make sure he was correct. Minato nodded to him, having a small sad expression on his face. Akihiko noticed how Minato looked.

"Hey, it's alright. Don't feel bad for that." Akihiko said to Minato, trying to cheer him up. Minato looked back at his senpai and gave a small smile. Akihiko kept a straight face on, but inside he was going crazy with how adorable of a smile his leader had. Just then, Akihiko came up with an idea.

"I'll be right back, I think I know how to help with that." Akihiko informed Minato. With that, Akihiko shut the door and left for the lounge. The others were still there and they noticed that Akihiko had returned.

"Oh, senpai. Is Minato-kun alright?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, he is and awake. Mitsuru, I wanted to ask you something. Minato has a sore throat and it's preventing him from talking, do you have anything that can help?" Akihiko asked Mitsuru.

"A sore throat you say? Hmm, well what you need is some Licorice root tea. It performs well in soothing sore throats. I'll fetch you some." Mitsuru answered Akihiko, standing up to go to her room to get what Akihiko needed.

A few minutes later, Akihiko returned to Minato's room with a piping hot cup of Licorice root tea for Minato. You wouldn't think so, but it was difficult for Akihiko to walk down the stairs with a cup of tea without spilling any of it on himself or the ground.

"Here. Mitsuru said that this should help with your sore throat, but it's really hot right now." Akihiko said to Minato, handing him the cup. Minato accepted it without question, wanting to have the earliest chance to talk to his senpai he can. Minato blew on it to cool it off a bit. He took a sip of it and winced a bit.

"Heh, it's still kind of hot right? I would've blew it to help cool it off, but I didn't want to make you even sicker." Akihiko said to the younger boy. Minato just stuck some of his tongue out, indicating what the problem was.

"Oh, it's the taste? Heh, Mitsuru did say that it's more of an acquired taste." Akihiko chuckled a bit. Minato just took another gulp of the tea.

"Hey, if you don't like it, it's alright. I can take it." Akihiko said holding his hand out. Minato shook his right hand, gesturing that Akihiko didn't need to do that.

"It's fine. I really appreciate it… thanks, senpai." Minato said to Akihiko, his voice even raspier than it was the previous day. It was really difficult to comprehend his words.

"Hey, don't talk. You don't want to make it even worse, but… you're welcome, Arisato." Akihiko said with a smile coming across his face as well as a small blush.

'Um, it's a little past eleven, are you hungry? You haven't eaten a thing today." Akihiko asked Minato, coming back to Earth. Minato shook his right hand to show that he was so-so hungry.

"Well, I should get you something… but also something that won't upset your throat or anything, umm maybe one of my protein shakes?" Suggested Akihiko. Minato gave Akihiko a bewildered look.

"Yeah, that's not really something you give a sick person do you?" Akihiko said, sounding a little embarrassed and rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm not really used to these kind of situations. Maybe I should go ask the others." With that, Akihiko left Minato's room and once again back to the lounge.

Everyone was still in the usual spots when Akihiko came down.

"Uh, guys… what do you feed someone with a sore throat?" Akihiko asked the others, feeling embarrassed that he had to ask them something like it.

"Well, for the cooking club, I've read that oatmeal is good, as well as chicken soup." Fuuka answered.

"So are bananas." Yukari added. "They've always helped me when I was a kid."

"Okay, but does anyone know how to cook any of those things?" Akihiko was not a skilled cook in the slightest. The members were all silent, as well as Fuuka because she always messed up in cooking club. The only one that had any positive cooking experience was, you guessed it, the sick leader Minato. Akihiko decided to scavenge through the kitchen to see if there were any microwavable cans of soup or bananas.

"I think it's going to take Minato even longer to get better than we thought" Junpei joked.

After many minutes of scouring the entire kitchen, Akihiko came back to Minato's room with a hot bowl of chicken soup along with a single banana and a glass ice water.

"That took a whole lot longer than I wanted it to be…" Akihiko said, bringing the tray over to the young boy. Minato started chuckling a little. That brought a smile back to Akihiko's face. That is until it caused Minato to cough repeatedly. Akihiko handed him the glass of water. Minato took it and sipped it to help relief himself of the cough.

"Better?" Akihiko asked. Minato nodded, taking in a deep breath.

"I actually never did check to see how are." Akihiko said as he put his left hand on Minato's forehead. It was still very hot to the touch.

"You still got a pretty bad fever." Akihiko informed Minato. Minato sighed and looked to the floor.

"Uh, but don't worry. If you take it easy, I'm sure you'll get better fast. I would expect nothing less of our amazing leader." Akihiko said to Minato, really wanting to make him feel better about the situation. Minato gave Akihiko that smile he loved once again, but this time, he added a hug, wrapping himself around Akihiko's neck. Minato couldn't see, but Akihiko's face was as red as a chili pepper and was completely flabbergasted.

Akihiko had no idea as to what he should do right there. The boy that he had deep feelings for was hugging him. In his room. Alone. Akihiko wasn't sure as to what he should be thinking about what was transpiring. He tried to keep himself from overthinking this and thought that maybe it was just a normal friend hug. You know, maybe just like the ones girls have, of course. That must be it. He didn't want to hurt Minato's feelings so Akihiko wrapped his left arm around Minato's torso and patted his back.

"Heh, I'm here… anytime you need me." Akihiko uttered to Minato, trying extremely hard to regain his composure. Again, he failed at it. Minato let go of Akihiko and proceeded to eat the food that his senpai had brought him. This time, senpai decided not to leave the sick second year student alone.

Hours passed by as the two boys hung out together in Minato's room. Pitter patters of the storm's rain could be heard as water hit against the room's window repeatedly. Akihiko really enjoyed being able to be with Minato for such a long period of time. The only time he got to hang out with him outside of Tartarus was when Minato would bring Akihiko along for Koromaru's walks at night. Even though Minato was unable to talk at all, they spent the time playing the cards Akihiko brought, watching a retro giant monster movie on the TV, and Akihiko telling Minato stories of his different boxing match victories. It made Akihiko delighted to know that he was bringing a smile to Minato's face during this not so delightful time. The time displayed on Minato's clock next to his bed said it was a little after 8 P.M. and Minato appeared to have been growing drowsy.

"You seem pretty, tired, Arisato. You should probably rest now." Akihiko suggested to Minato. Minato tried to protest, but ended up rubbing his right eye, so he just nodded to Akihiko. Akihiko got up and Minato laid down, covering himself with his sheets. Akihiko walked over to Minato and rubbed Minato's head.

"I'm not a dog, senpai…" Minato chuckle out in a low and still raspy voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Still, good night, Arisato." Responded Akihiko. He left and shut the door as Minato quickly drifted off to the realm of dreams. Fuuka was walking up the stairs from the ground floor and saw Akihiko exit Minato's room.

"Oh, senpai, were you in there this whole time?" She asked Akihiko.

"Yeah. He's stuck in there, so I figured he'd be lonely without some company."

"Wow, that's very kind of you, senpai!"

"Heh, yeah thanks. I just want to be sure he gets better as soon as possible."


	3. Chapter 3

The Third Night

Date: Sunday, September 20th.

The time was 4:40 P.M. All the members of SEES were in the dorm, scattered about the building. Mitsuru, Ken and Shinjiro were in their own rooms doing their own business. Junpei was on the couch with Fuuka, while he was reading a Phoenix Ranger Feather-man R comic book and Fuuka was on her laptop. Aigis was conversing with Koromaru next to the television. Akihiko was sitting on a stool that was in front of the kitchen counter, tinkering with his boxing gloves and Yukari was on her cellphone at the table. The two of them seemed to be the most concerned when it came to Minato's current condition. Akihiko had been in Minato's room earlier. He was still asleep and with a fever. Akihiko felt guilty, thinking it was because of him that Minato was still exhausted, since he had been the one to keep Minato longer than he should have the day before.

Akihiko let out an annoyed sigh. Yukari looked up at Akihiko when she heard him. He had his eyes shut as he rubbed his right temple. He also started muttering things to himself.

"What am I going to do…?"

"Something on your mind, senpai?" Yukari asked Akihiko, trying to snap him out of it. Akihiko came out of his trance with a slight start.

"No-nothing. I'm fine." Akihiko said back. But he actually had a lot on his mind. He was thinking about how he might've caused Minato to be like he is at the moment. But most of all, about the hug Minato gave him. Akihiko thought it was something stupid to get so hung over about, but it was something that came from the person who was special to him. And it was something really out of character for Minato, seeing as though he almost never made physical contact with anybody.

"Pretty boring being in the dorm this whole time, huh senpai?" Yukari said.

"It is. Never realized how dull it is to be inside for so long." Responded Akihiko. "I'm going back to see him." Akihiko told Takeba, heading for the stairs.

"You've been going there frequently today, senpai…"

"Well, we gotta make sure he doesn't get any worse, right?"

"…right."

Akihiko knocked on Minato's door, then entered after a moment. It was dark in the room due to the black storm clouds covering the day sky in a thick cloak. It was quiet as well in the room, with the only audible being the rain hitting the window and Minato's light snores. Akihiko walked over to Minato's sleeping figure and placed his hand on his forehead again. The fever was not a burning hot as it was previously, but still high above normal body temperature. Akihiko actually noticed something different about Minato at the moment. Akihiko felt his hand to be a little wet. Minato's forehead had traces of sweat on it.

"That can't be good…" Akihiko left the room and towards the male's bathroom to get a wet towel to help cool off Minato. He lightly dabbed Minato's head as to not disturb him. Akihiko started to become a little more worried.

Akihiko grunted lightly. "Damn it, I- I want to help you, but I don't know what I can do… Why am I useless when it matters?" Akihiko kept whispering to himself, gripping the towel in his hands tighter from his anger towards himself. Minato shuffled in his bed, making Akihiko think that he might have woken him up. He was still asleep, actually. He was tossing and turning repeatedly, however. It appeared that he was writhing in some pain. A sharp pain shot through Akihiko's chest. To see the younger boy to be in pain hurt him immensely. Whenever Minato would get injured at Tartarus, he'd always heal him back to full strength first, even if it was Yukari's job to do so.

Akihiko knelt down and just looked at Minato's face. Minato's face was grimacing a bit. It hurt Akihiko to see this. Akihiko placed his left hand onto Minato's right cheek. He leaned in gave Minato's forehead a soft kiss, for a few seconds.

"Ari-Minato… please... Get better soon. I can't stand to see you like this." Akihiko barely whispered, having pain in his voice.

"I love you… Minato. Please get better."

It may have been a coincidence, but after Akihiko's contact, Minato had stopped grimacing, and stopped writhing altogether. It made Akihiko feel better, but then he became startled to the possibility of Minato hearing him. It didn't seem like it, though. Minato was still fast asleep. Akihiko pulled the chair from Minato's desk closer to the bed, and he took a seat, deciding to watch over Minato for just a bit longer. There wasn't anything Akihiko wanted more than to be near Minato.

Hours had passed. The time was currently 1:32 A.M. Akihiko had left Minato alone for the past five hours. Someone was shuffling through the second floor hallway in the dark. The figure paused in front of Akihiko's door. There was dim light, most likely coming from a lamp, visible from beneath the door. The figure was Minato. He was awake and made his way back to his room slowly. He was still relatively weak. He sat down onto his bed and glanced over to his cellphone. He just stared at if for a moment, pondering if he should do what he was thinking. He decided in the end to take it and make a call.

After hearing three rings, Minato heard someone answer with a nonchalant 'hello?' It was Akihiko he called. Akihiko must not have bothered to look at the caller I.D.

"Uh… hi, senpai." Minato uttered into the receiver.

"Minato?! What are you doing up?" Akihiko was alarmed to who had just called him. And at such a late hour, no less.

"I woke up about a half an hour ago. I saw you had some lights on from under your door when I was making my way back from the bathroom."

"Oh, are you okay at least?"

"Still kind of weak… but I didn't want to just sit here doing nothing."

"Well, I'm happy with talking to you, M-Arisato."

"Umm, I first wanted to ask if you were in my room earlier…?" Akihiko started to panic inside. 'Oh shit! Did Minato hear anything I said!? Shit, oh shit, this isn't good!' Akihiko screamed in his head. He didn't know what to do.

"Uh, yeah. I was…" Akihiko figured he should be honest to the fellow.

"Oh, I thought you might've been. I felt like someone was comforting me."

"R-really? Comforting… how?"

"Like… someone was giving me a warm, comforting touch. And a soothing voice, but I couldn't tell as to what they were saying. So, if it was you, what were you saying?"

"I was wishing for you to feel better soon… because you looked like you were in some pain." Akihiko felt a wave of relief knowing that Minato didn't know what he had said. Akihiko was technically telling the truth. He did say for Minato to get better soon.

"Oh… well thanks to you, and Mitsuru-senpai, my throat is fine now. Now I get to talk to you, since you were the one to do all the talking last time."

"Heh, y-yeah. I liked having the chance to h-hang out with you, even if you weren't able to respond completely. So… since you heard all about me, how about you take the lead this time?"

"Um, alright… not sure where to start."

"Well, the current subject is you, so it can be anything."

"Y-yeah, I guess so. I'm just not used to being the one to talk about myself. It's usually me listening and helping other people's problems." It was true. Akihiko always admired Minato being one to help others, no matter if the situation was insignificant or not. He knew how he's helped Yukari and Fuuka, even Mitsuru.

"I guess I could start by saying that I love art…" Minato went on.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. That big mess on my desk when you came with me in here the other day? That was a mess from my previous workings."

"From the look of it, you must go at it with a lot of determination."

"Actually, that mess was really there because I got frustrated and raged a bit…"

"Uh… is that why I thought I heard noises from your room about a week ago?

"Oh, god… you heard that?" Minato was starting to grow embarrassed.

"I think even the girls above heard you, Arisato." Akihiko chuckled a bit.

"Ugh, damn…" Minato put his left hand over his face, making his voice muffled.

"We were gonna ask, but figured it was something you wanted to handle yourself. I didn't think it had something to do with your art."

"Yeah, it's kind of a fault of mine… I get pissed at my stuff to easily."

"Could I see some of your drawings at some point? As long as it's alright with you."

"I guess so. I'd have to find some of the stuff I like, though. I usually keep drawings even if they're not great, except sometimes I tear them to pieces."

"I'm sure that you have some great stuff already. Everyone's got their own talent."

"Heh, thanks. That actually means a lot, Akihiko." Akihiko was surprised to hear his first name from Minato. He liked how it sounded from Minato's sweet voice.

"Oh, uh sorry, senpai. Shouldn't have called you that, wasn't right of me." Minato quickly snapped, sounding flustered.

"Hey, it's alright, Arisato. I don't mind. I actually like it if it came from you." Akihiko was being extremely rash, saying things like that. In fact, Minato was blushing wildly from that statement.

"I-I don't know about that, senpai…"

"Well, it's your decision, Arisato. You just don't have to worry about it bothering me since it doesn't."

"I-if you say so…."

"C'mon, tell me more about you. I'd be a lousy friend and teammate if I knew nothing about you."

"Oh, heh-heh, sure… Akihiko." Minato got red every time he would say Akihiko's name to him.

They continued for about an hour longer. They laughed together, learned more about the other, and felt a stronger bond between them grow during this night. Neither of the two decided to tell the other 'everything' just yet, believing that it might demolish their friendship. They found a point to stop when Minato started to get exhausted, even if he was awake for less than two hours. After Minato had hung up, Akihiko closed his cellphone and uttered something in a hush tone to himself.

"I wish… I could tell you… Minato."


	4. Chapter 4

The Fourth Night

Date: Monday, September 21st.

The current time was 2:53. The storm was not as strong as it was the previous days since it had started to ravage Port Island. Fuuka and Akihiko took advantage of the current situation and went out to Iwatodai for groceries, especially because they didn't have the proper necessities to aid Minato's recovery. Shinji was in his room again. Ken was sitting on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate. Mitsuru was sitting on the seat reading one of her books. Junpei, Yukari, Koromaru and Aigis were on the second floor, sitting at the table that was next to the two vending machines. Koromaru started to bark a few times.

"What's up with him?" Junpei questioned.

"He is asking when Minato will be able to play with him once again." Aigis translated for the dog.

"Probably not until a few more days, Koro-chan. And you'll also have to wait for the storm to blow over." Yukari said to the dog, who could surprisingly understand what everyone said to him. Koromaru began to whimper sadly. Koromaru was just as concerned for Minato's wellbeing just like the others.

"Don't worry, Koromaru. Minato will get back to his old shadow destroying real soon." Junpei said to Koromaru. He barked happily in response.

The front doors to the dorm suddenly opened, with Akihiko and Fuuka walking in with their arms full of plastic bags of groceries. Even with raincoats, the two were still soaked all over.

"Heh, maybe I should start doing my daily jogs in the rain too." Akihiko said.

"But, senpai, we don't want you to end up getting sick too." Fuuka responded. Akihiko just grunted, thinking that his idea would have benefited him.

After the two had put away the recently acquired supplies, Akihiko went up to Minato's room, holding a tray that had a bowl of hot oatmeal, a glass of orange juice, and a slice of buttered toast. He knocked on the door and heard Minato tell him to come in. But, when Akihiko opened the door, Koromaru sprinted from where he was sitting and ran in right past Akihiko, almost causing him to trip. Koromaru stood on his hind legs as he leaned on Minato's bed, ecstatic that he got to see Minato again. Minato chuckled lightly as he scratched behind Koromaru's left ear since he knew that Koromaru loved that spot. Minato was glad to interact with Koromaru again. Besides Akihiko, no one else came up to see Minato, when he was awake at least.

"Hey, Koro-Chan! What are you doing in there?!" Yukari called out from outside of Minato's door.

"Don't worry, about it, Yukari. I'm glad he came over." Minato said to Yukari. Koromaru barked happily that Minato wanted him to stay.

"Alright, if you say so." Yukari left after that and returned to Junpei and Aigis. Akihiko shut Minato's door then placed the tray in front of Minato. He put his hand on Minato's forehead, still feeling hot. Akihiko sighed lightly, thinking, while he may look like Minato was getting better, his body wasn't exactly agreeing.

"How are you feeling, Arisato?"

"Okay, I guess. I didn't feel light-headed when I woke up, this time. I guess that's some kind of improvement." Responded Minato, reaching to sip the orange juice.

"That's good. I'm glad that you're starting to get better." Akihiko said and Koromaru barked. "Heh, I guess Koromaru agrees." Koromaru barked twice happily. Minato petted the top of Koromaru's head, making Koromaru bark with glee. Minato really liked Koromaru. All dogs in general, as well as wolves and foxes, so it really did comfort him to have Koromaru here with him.

While Minato ate the food Akihiko brought him, the two conversed with each other just like the previous night, only without the phones being used. Minato did wonder as to why only Akihiko wanted to spend all this time with him. He figured he'd rather train in his own room. Minato understood that the girls couldn't go into the boys' rooms and vice versa, but he'd figure Junpei or Ken would stop by at least once. Maybe Ken didn't come by even if he wanted to because he was younger and more likely to get sick from Minato. Though, in the end, Minato didn't mind being with Akihiko at all. Akihiko was telling Minato story about his childhood with Shinji.

"He got us into so much trouble with that stunt that I just wanted to knock his block off!" Akihiko said while laughing about the events that had transpired in his story. Minato was laughing at it too, until the air conditioner in his room caused several papers from Minato's desk to scatter about the floor.

"I'll get that for you." Akihiko said, getting up to retrieve the papers.

"W-wait, senpai!" Minato exclaimed, trying to stop the gray haired senior. But it was too late. Akihiko and picked up and seen what was on the papers. They were drawings. Akihiko was surprised as to what the drawings were. They were all of HIM. Drawings of Akihiko in various poses. Ones with him standing next to his persona, Polydeuces. Him in a fighting position with his spiked gloves. As well as a close up drawing of Akihiko's face, his face bearing that smirk of confidence he would make.

"Uh…" Akihiko had no idea as to what he should say. Minato had his face buried in his hands. Through them he muffled something.

"…guh." Is what Akihiko could only hear.

"W-what was that…?" Akihiko questioned.

"Just go! Leave me alone, senpai." Minato exclaimed, moving his hands out of his face. Right when he said this, a huge roar of thunder ringed in anyone in a five mile radius's ears. The power went out momentarily, returned soon after. Rain was hitting against the window like it was bullets instead of water. Minato was completely red. Be it embarrassment or anger, Akihiko couldn't tell which it was.

"B-but, Ari"

"GET OUT!" This time, Minato yelled, causing him to cough erratically. Akihiko quickly put the papers onto the desk and left instantaneously, shutting the door behind him. Koromaru stayed in the room with Minato. He was whimpering, upset that the friends were fighting. Koromaru leaped onto Minato's bed, getting closer to Minato's face, wanting to help. Tears were streaming down his face. He looked and the dog and gently pulled him into hug.

Akihiko walked away from Minato's room, until Yukari rushed over to her senpai along with Junpei and Fuuka.

"Akihiko-senpai, what happened in there?! It sounded like Minato was yelling!" Yukari frantically asked the boxer.

"He… he got upset over something I did. I didn't mean to, but… He wants to be left alone right now. I… I'll try apologizing later if I can." Akihiko said to them as he was trying to move past them. He was trying with all his might not to let the water forming in his eyes to pour out in front of the others. He quickly retreated to his own room, shutting the door as soon as he was inside. He walked over to the speed bag on the side of the room and slammed his fist full of rage on it at full force. The stitching of the bag tore and the contents inside started to pour out of it. Akihiko slapped his right hand over his down tear filled face.

"Damn it!" Akihiko barely choked out that remark. "Why did I have to go and upset him!? I wanted to make him better fast, but I do this?! I'm so stupid! Why can't I do anything right!?" Akihiko kept beating himself over what had transpired. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to hurt Minato. The guilt was overtaking him as he dropped onto his bed, punching himself on the side of his head, silently sobbing to himself.

Back in Minato's room, Minato was laying down, asleep. The stress caused him to pass out from exhaustion. He had tear stains on his cheeks, and under his eyes, they were puffy and red. Koromaru was curled in a ball, nestled in the blue haired boy's chest. Minato had one of his hands on the dog, finding him to be the only source of comfort at the moment. Koromaru wasn't going to leave the boy alone. He was going to be there for a loved one this time to protect, in memory of Koromaru's previous Monk owner.


	5. Chapter 5

The Fourth Night continued.

Mitsuru walked up the stairs from the ground floor to the second floor and over to the four SEES members that were still sitting at the table there.

"I heard loud noises. What's going on?" The red haired senior asked the others.

"We're not really sure ourselves." Yukari began. "Something caused Minato and Akihiko to fight…"

"The only audible sound coming from Minato's quarters before Akihiko-san left for his own quarters was Minato yelling 'Get out.' Other information is not present." Aigis answered in her robotic monotone voice.

"This is unacceptable. We cannot have team members fighting with one another. Especially with one being incapacitated. I'm going to have a word with Akihiko." Mitsuru said, sounding a little upset in her tone.

"Akihiko, may I please have a word with you in private?" Mitsuru said as she knocked on his door. He merely told her to come in with a barely audible response. She walked in and shut the door behind her. She saw Akihiko sitting on his bed, his hands on his face and in his hair. Mitsuru sighed, seeing Akihiko like this very few times before. She walked over and sat next to Akihiko.

"Now, tell me as to why you and Arisato are upset with each other." She ordered the boxer. Akihiko moved his hands away from his face and looked over at Mitsuru. His eyes were red and puffy and had a grief stricken face.

"I… I accidentally made Arisato upset. I saw something he didn't want me, or probably anyone for that matter, to see. I didn't think it would be so bad to him, but apparently I was wrong and… it hurt seeing him get so upset at me." Akihiko answered to Mitsuru.

"Well, please enlighten me as to what it was you saw in order for me to properly assist you."

"But…"

"You have my word that no one else will hear any of this from me."

"Alright… they were drawings Minato made… of me. All of the ones I saw were me. I was so surprised that I couldn't say anything… even though I thought that they looked absolutely amazing. He must've thought that I was freaked out by them." Akihiko sighed.

"So, the reason that you find these illustrations depicted of you to be 'amazing', and feeling hurt for Arisato being upset with you, is because you greatly care for his feelings?"

"Uh… yes, I do. I really do care…"

"And you have your own special feelings towards Arisato, yes?"

"Err… y-yes. I really care about Arisato, and I want to keep him close to me. He makes me feel more alive, gives me reason to fight. I know that he can protect himself and as do I, but I still want him to be the one to protect me, and for me to protect him. I feel warm inside every time I'm near him, and I just want to hold onto him and make sure he never has to be afraid of ever being alone after all this time since he lost his family." Akihiko confided to Mitsuru.

"Akihiko, I could tell that you've had special feelings for Arisato for the longest while now. The others may not, but I've known you for a long time. So what you need to do is tell Arisato what you just told me. It doesn't need to be immediately, seeing as though he may be feeling in worse condition from this stress, but the longer you wait, the harder it is going to be. For the both of you."

"When you're right, Mitsuru, you're right."

"Good. Now that this issue has been handled, I don't need to worry about the two of you having any more disputes, correct?"

'Oh! Y-yeah of course!"

"Then there's no reason for me to deliver punishment for this. Terrific." Akihiko knew just how capable Mitsuru was with the 'executions', resulting in a cold chill to rush down Akihiko's spine. Mitsuru stood up and headed for the door, finding that her current business was now done.

As Mitsuru made her way to the stairs that led to the ground floor, she was stopped by the ones sitting at the nearby table.

"Oh, Mitsuru-senpai, is Akihiko-senpai alright?" Fuuka asked.

"Yes. I had a word with him, and after he gives Minato some time to recover, he will go and resolve the situation."

"Man, what was it that was eating them so bad, senpai?" Junpei asked.

"Forgive me, but I gave my word that I wouldn't say anything." Mitsuru retorted. After that, she went down stairs to continue with her reading.

"W-what!? Man, now I really wanna know!" Whined Junpei.

The current time was now 11:19 P.M. Most of the dorm residents were asleep. Koromaru was asleep at the foot of Ken's bed. A few hours ago, Junpei had let him out of Minato's room as he was sleeping when he heard Koromaru scratching at the bottom of the door. Akihiko wasn't sleeping tonight, though. He had too much on his mind. How Minato reacted to him. What he said to Mitsuru. And what Mitsuru said that Akihiko should do. He was sitting on his bed, wearing red and white checkered pajama bottoms and a gray tank top as he blankly stared at the TV, paying no attention as to what was going on in it. He was snapped out of his trance when he heard two short knocks on his door and saw a piece of paper slide under the door. He went over and picked it up. It said 'Come over to my room. I need to talk to you.' He flipped it over and saw that it was a drawing.

"W-what the…?" It was a drawing of Akihiko doing his finishing punch on his opponent from one of his most difficult matches about two months back. Akihiko was completely filled with awe. It was a spectacular work of art. The drawing had the same exact move he used, the opponent looked the same as in person, even each fighter's boxing shorts had every detail correct. On the bottom right corner, there was Minato's artist signature and the date he made it. It really was made two months back. Minato had been going to Akihiko's boxing matches to give him secret support. To know that Minato had been there for him all this time since coming to Port Island, and more importantly, gave Akihiko this special drawing, really touched Akihiko. It made a smile come across his face. Akihiko exited his room and went over to Minato's. He knocked and heard Minato to tell him to come in.

Akihiko was still holding onto the drawing Minato gave him. He walked in and Minato was sitting on his bed, wrapped in his blanket. Akihiko wasn't sure what to say, but knew he should say something about what Minato had given him. He was sure that it had to take a lot of courage to give something like that to him.

"T-thank you for the drawing. I think it looks amazing." Akihiko said, trying very carefully with the words he chose. Minato looked over at Akihiko and gave off a relieved smile.

"R-really? You really like it, senpai?"

"I love it, really." Akihiko admitted to the younger boy. Minato smiled wider, delighted that he made his senpai happy. Akihiko too was extremely overjoyed to see Minato smiling so much. It made his heart skip beats.

"You said you wanted to talk to me, right?" Akihiko asked.

"Y-yeah… I… I really wanted to apologize to you. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that…" Minato said but started to cough afterwards.

"Hey, are you alright?" Akihiko said, concerned.

"I'm fine, just hurts a little from when I yelled."

"Then maybe you shouldn't…" Akihiko started, taking a seat next to Minato.

"No, I can't wait any longer. I need to tell you this now."

"T-tell me what?" Akihiko was unsure as to what to think at the moment.

"First, I just really wanted to say thank you." Minato looked away from Akihiko as he began to talk.

"You didn't have to spend so much time with me while I was sick, or even stay awake for so long to just talk to me, but you did anyway. I don't know why, but I was really happy that you did. I've always wanted to spend time with you, but I figured that you wouldn't bother with me. So I thought the only way I could be around with you was in Tartarus, so that's why I always brought you along every time we went as well as every time we had to deal with a full moon shadow. That is until I got sick. I didn't expect you to care so much about me, and try so hard to help me get better faster. It wasn't right of me to get upset when you saw my drawings. I made those because… I thought it would be the only way for me to actually display my feelings, but I ended up making more and more of them and I thought that you'd think of me as creep if I showed you them. I was scared about how you'd react to them. I wanted to get you to come back after I told you to leave, but I lost all my strength from overreacting. I fell asleep, and you completely took over my dreams. I thought you'd be mad with me, so I wanted to give you my favorite drawing that way you would know that I was really sorry. I don't know when it started, but… I began to feel different around you. When you held me in your arms when you carried me to my room, I've never felt so protected in my life."

Minato, still looking away, grabbed and held onto Akihiko's hand. Akihiko felt his entire body get warmer and warmer with every word Minato said, especially since he's never heard Minato talk so much.

"You had a special, warming touch that would make me feel that you could get rid of all my troubles. Your voice has a soothing angelic grace that made it feel like everything was going to be okay. That's why when I had that painful night of sleep, I thought I could see you in my dreams reaching your hand out to help get me away from the pain."

Minato looked over at Akihiko, both boys' eyes instantly locking onto each other's. Akihiko stared into Minato's crystalline gray eyes, feeling so much passion emit from them.

"I-I-I… I LOVE YOU, AKIHIKO." Minato tried so hard to tell him, that he ended up blurting it out. Minato stared at Akihiko, waiting for whatever response he would give him. Minato's entire body was shaking from being extremely nervous about what he just did. Akihiko looked back at Minato, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar.

Without needing to think at all, Akihiko immediately leaned over to Minato and pressed his lips against Minato's. He held onto Minato's face, wanting to hold onto him forever. Minato was completely shocked as to Akihiko's actions, but immediately returned the kissed.

"I love you, Minato! I've wanted to say that for so long! I've wanted to tell you that you make me feel warm inside whenever I'm near you, that I want to hold onto you and make sure that you never have to be afraid of being alone again! I want to protect you… and you to protect me… I need you… Minato." Akihiko finally got to confess his love for his beloved Minato, and the same could be said for Minato. Akihiko wrapped his arms around Minato so he could feel all the love Akihiko had in his body. Minato gladly returned the hug. He could hear the soothing sound of Akihiko's heart beats with his head against Akihiko's chest. The sound of it made Minato grow drowsy listening to it. He let out a light yawn.

"I feel like I could fall asleep to the rhythm of your heart, senpai…"

"Go ahead, there's no way I'm letting go of you right now." Akihiko cooed. Akihiko laid the two of them down on the bed and Minato nestled more into Akihiko's chest. Akihiko gently caressed Minato's head, overjoyed that he finally got to have Minato as his.

"Good night, Minato."

"Good night, Aki."


	6. Chapter 6

[Sorry, but this is going to be a looong chapter ;) So buckle up]

The Fifth Night

Date: September, Tuesday 22nd.

The current time was 11:34 A.M. The typhoon seemed to have hit the hardest the previous day. The dorm was lucky as to not have gotten struck by the gigantic bolt of lightning. It does seem, however, that it had settled a bit last night, even though it is still pouring outside. Every SEES member is in the lounge at the moment, except Minato again, but also Akihiko.

"Is Sanada-san still asleep?" Ken asked the others.

"He did have a sort of, ahem, dispute with Arisato yesterday for a reason he wishes to keep to himself about, so he most likely wants to remain in solitude for the moment." Mitsuru answered to the boy. However, soon after, Akihiko was walking down the stairs, with a face of glee and a slight skip to his step and headed for the kitchen. All the others noticed how Akihiko looked.

"Yo, Akihiko-senpai, what's up with you? The last time I've seen you that happy was when the meat bowl place was having a 50% off special day." Junpei questioned.

"I went to talk to Mina-err, Arisato this morning to patch things up and he's forgiven for my accidental slip up and we're still friends." Akihiko answered with a rather large grin on his face. It was actually odd to the others.

"I didn't expect that Akihiko-senpai and Minato-kun were such close friends. I've barely seen them with each other." Fuuka said.

"Uh, well if you saw him this morning, how is his condition right now anyway?" Yukari asked.

"Still has a fever, but not as bad anymore. And also, a few random chills, but he is improving." Akihiko quickly answered, making his way back to the stairs with a tray having a bowl of cereal and orange juice for Minato.

"Sheesh, Akihiko-senpai has been spending all his time with Minato, what's up with that?" Junpei asked, very confused.

"Well, when I saw him leave Minato's room one night was he said that Minato was lonely without anyone to spend time with…" Fuuka said to Junpei.

"It's still kind of weird to me…" Junpei said.

"Don't think too much about it, Junpei-kun. I'm sure it's just Sanada-san acting as a good friend towards Minato." Ken said back to Junpei.

"I guess…" Junpei responded.

Akihiko walked over to Minato's room and went inside. Minato was sitting on his bed with a sketch book in his hands.

"What'cha making there?" Akihiko asked as he walked over to his sweetheart.

"Just another sketch." Replied Minato. He showed Akihiko the sketch book and it was a pencil sketch of Akihiko's face.

"Heh-heh, while I may like you doing it, how come you don't draw anything besides me?"

"Because… I love my Aki." Minato said to Akihiko, trying to make himself sound cute. And it was working. Akihiko chuckled and blushed a light shade of red.

"Well that's good, because I love my Minato." He said as he leaned down and gave Minato a light kiss on his lips.

"Another. Another." Whined Minato as if he was a small child.

"Okay, Leader." Akihiko chuckled as he nuzzled his forehead against Minato's. He gave Minato another loved filled kiss. Akihiko loved it so much that he could finally do this with Minato. He's waited too long.

"You sure that I'm not going to get you sick like this?" Minato asked his senpai.

"Don't worry about it. I don't get sick that easily."

"You got sick for like 2 days the last time we were in Tartarus."

"Sh-shut up." Akihiko was slightly red from embarrassment since he knew that his leader was right.

"Anyway, eat up before it gets soggy." Akihiko told Minato.

A while after, Minato and Akihiko were laying on the bed, Akihiko underneath and Minato with his head on Akihiko's chest. They were both looking up at towards the ceiling. Minato had his left hand holding onto Akihiko's right hand. He held onto it tightly, not desiring to ever let it go. Akihiko's hand was much warmer than Minato's, so it felt soothing.

"It feels like my hand was meant to hold onto yours." Akihiko said to Minato.

"D-don't just say things like that randomly, Aki… b-baka." Minato grew red.

"It's true, though. I've wanted to do these kind of things with you for so long. I've even thought that maybe I'd never get to." Akihiko told Minato.

"Apparently we've both thought the same things at some points." Admitted Minato.

"Really? You've thought of stuff like that? I have wondered before as to what kind of stuff went through your mind, actually…"

"I've thought about a lot of things. But for the longest time you've taken over them. It was kind of painful… thinking that I was just pursuing an impossible dream."

"If this is a dream, I don't wanna wake up. I'm loving it too much."

"Heh-heh, how are you able to say all the rights things?"

"Heh, it actually sounds like something you'd hear for a corny romance movie."

"Well, they at least have happy endings." Minato said, turning over so he was face to face with Akihiko. Minato flashed Akihiko a sweet smile.

"I love that smile of yours, Minato. You're just too cute." Akihiko said to him.

"I never really did have any reasons to smile so much. But it makes you happy, and you make me happy." Confided Minato. Akihiko pulled Minato down and gave him another kiss.

"What the Hell's goin' on in there!?" Junpei whispered to himself, having his ear pressed against the door to Minato's door. Junpei could only hear bits and pieces as to what the two boys were saying to each other.

"Junpei, what are you doing?" Someone said behind Junpei, causing him to jump out of fear. He turned around and Yukari was standing there.

"N-nothing, Yuka-tan, just wondered if Akihiko was still in there…" With that, Junpei hurriedly walked off back to the lounge. Yukari just looked at him puzzled as to what he was really doing, but figured it was another one of 'Stupei's' shenanigans. She knocked on Minato's door and soon after, Akihiko opened up.

"Oh, senpai. Um, here. I got this medicine that could help Minato-kun get better. Could you give this to him for me, please?" She said, handing him the small yellow pill and a glass of water.

"Of course, Takeba." Akihiko answered, taking what Yukari was handing.

"You two are okay, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm making sure he gets everything he needs."

"Alright, I do trust you, senpai." Yukari said, looking at Akihiko blankly for a moment and then walked away. Akihiko shut the door and told Minato to take the medicine that she had brought to him.

"Tell Yukari I said thanks next time you run into her." Minato said to Akihiko.

"Sure thing. So anyway, were you telling me about… hey, you alright?" Akihiko asked Minato, who was starting to act differently. He was rubbing his eyes and having trouble sitting up.

"Just… really sleepy all of a sudden…" Minato responded, sounding half awake.

"I guess the medicine Takeba brought had some drowsy side effects."

"But I've done enough sleeping, I wanna spend time with Aki…" Minato began to whine.

"Sheesh, you can really act like a little kid, Minato." Akihiko chuckled. "Don't worry about it, I'm going to stay right here with you." Akihiko told Minato as he sat down beside Minato.

Minato wrapped himself in his blanket again as he laid down and rested his head onto the pillow. Akihiko stroked Minato's head to help lull him to sleep. Minato quickly drifted to sleep from the loving touch his beloved was giving him. Akihiko gazed at Minato as he slept with a smile on his face, joyful that he was the one cheering up Minato during his illness. Just then, there were a few knocks on Minato's door. Akihiko went to answer it and found Fuuka standing there.

"Ah, Akihiko-senpai. I thought you might've been…" Fuuka was interrupted when Akihiko gestured for Fuuka to move aside as Akihiko stepped out of Minato's room and shut the door.

"Sorry about that, but Mina-Arisato fell asleep." Akihiko informed Fuuka.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I disturbed him. By the way, senpai, you've been mixing up Minato-kun's name quite a few times lately."

"W-well, we've gotten to know each other better while I spent time with him. I-I've just gotten more familiar with him, is a-all."

"Then, senpai, why are you turning red and stuttering?"

"Huh?! Uh, n-no reason." Akihiko quickly looked the other way, trying to act oblivious. To no avail, however.

"I don't mean to pry, but you're acting even more flustered right now, senpai. And you seemed abnormal this morning."

Akihiko knew that there was no getting around it. He glanced around to see if anyone else was around within ear-shot. He moved Fuuka and himself into the corner of the hall so he could explain. He knew he could trust Yamagishi.

"It's… it's because I really like Minato." Akihiko confessed in a whisper, with a deeper blush forming on his cheeks. Fuuka gasped.

"R-really, senpai!?" She said, trying to be quiet as well.

"Y-yeah, and I was feeling really happy this morning because Minato… agreed to be my boyfriend." Akihiko covered his mouth and had shut his eyes, feeling embarrassed to say it out loud to anyone else.

"Wow that is so sweet, senpai! I never thought that something like that was making you so happy this morning."

"Being with him really does make me feel special." Akihiko said blushing and glancing over at Minato's door.

"Aw, that's so cute, senpai!"

"B-b-but please be sure not to say this to anyone else. Right now, it's only you and Mitsuru that know about it, and I'm not sure if Minato would appreciate me telling everybody about our relationship…"

"Oh, of course, Akihiko-senpai. It wasn't right of be to get involved in your own business, anyway."

"Thank you, Yamagishi." Akihiko was relieved that it was only Fuuka that there at the moment.

He had no idea what he'd do if Junpei or the others had heard, especially Yukari since he knew that she was interested in Minato. Akihiko was sure that there'd be some kind of conflict to arise from that, but he decided to deal with that problem once it came up. He also wanted to make sure that he didn't cause any more stress for Minato. He still felt fairly guilty for causing his beloved to cry.

Minato woke up suddenly, forgetting that he passed out from the medicine he had taken. He looked over at his clock and it said that it was now 7:54 PM. He sat himself upright, feeling a little disoriented.

"Well, good morning, sunshine." Minato looked over and saw Akihiko sitting at Minato's desk chair. He walked over, kissed Minato's forehead and handed him some freshly made ramen.

"I figured you might be hungry when you woke up. How are you feeling, anyway?"

"Pretty good, actually. Slightly dizzy, but that would probably happen to anyone who falls unconscious from medications." Minato chuckled. Akihiko put his hand on Minato's head to check on his temperature again.

"You don't feel hot at least. Here." Akihiko pulled out a thermometer and asked to use it on Minato before he started to eat the ramen. After a moment, Akihiko pulled it out and checked to see what it said.

"100.03. Your fever is almost gone."

"Great, I won't be stuck in here for too much longer then."

"You'll still need to take it easy for a bit after you get better. Wouldn't want you to relapse or anything." Minato pouted a bit from Akihiko's remark.

"Don't act like that, my pouty baby." Akihiko chuckled as he sat beside Minato. Minato just looked at him with kiddy eyes and had some ramen noodles sticking out his mouth.

"If you keep those noodles out, I'm gonna slurp them from your mouth." Akihiko smirked. Minato slurped the noodles in and ate them, depriving Akihiko of any such satisfaction. Akihiko was a little upset that Minato teased him like that. Minato laughed a little with how Akihiko was now the one acting like a child. Minato continued eating the ramen while eyeing Akihiko.

"You like teasing me like that, don't you, punk?" Akihiko laughed.

Minato stuck his tongue at Akihiko to make more fun of him. Though it was Akihiko that got to have fun with Minato when he put his tongue on Minato's. Minato stuck his tongue back in his mouth. Akihiko, with his face a few inches away from Minato's, smirked at Minato's now cherry red face.

"Heh, you taste like ramen now." Akihiko's comment made Minato turned even redder. Instead of saying anything, Minato pressed his lips against Akihiko's and gave him a passion-filled kiss. Akihiko gladly returned it, but felt that there was something different with the kiss. Minato was acting… hungry. He felt the lust that was in Minato that desperately desired to be fully sated.

Akihiko pulled back a little, wanting to stop Minato, for the moment at least. Though there was a faint line of saliva connecting both of the boys' mouths.

"Uh, Minato… a-are you really sure you want to do that now?" Akihiko was a little concerned with Minato's train of thinking at the moment, even if he wanted it just as badly.

"I know it seems early, but with how long I've waited to be with you, thinking when or if it ever happened, I want to have you in every way possible."

"Y-You… have no idea how much I want it too, Minato."

Minato smiled at Akihiko and proceeded to kiss each other hungrily. Minato started to lick Akihiko's bottom lip and Akihiko tackled Minato's tongue with his own. This caused Minato to moan in Akihiko's mouth. The sounds Minato was making was driving Akihiko crazy. He felt the tint in his pants rise more and more. Akihiko moved away from Minato's lips and started trailing kisses down Minato's jawline and to his neck. He stopped and sucked under Minato's collarbone.

"A-aaah…" Was all Minato could say, feeling the sensation of pleasure overtake him. Akihiko pulled away and lifted Minato's cyan T-shirt off of him, basking at the beauty of Minato's body, grateful that this time he didn't have to hold himself back. Akihiko laid himself and Minato down and trailed more kisses down his body, stopping and licking Minato's left nipple. This caused Minato to moan out in pleasure again.

"A-Aki… Aki, p-p-p…" Minato could barely say what he was trying to say. Akihiko stopped and moved up.

"What is it?"

"You got to undress me every time now, I want to do the same to you." Minato said to his senpai seductively. Akihiko smirked and let Minato go ahead and do what he really wanted.

He pulled off Akihiko's crimson T-shirt over his head and gazed in awe at his senpai's unbelievably amazing body. Minato never got a chance to see Akihiko's well-defined abs and glow. Back at Yakushima, he had to divert his eyes away from staring.

"Heh, like what you see?" Akihiko smirked.

"Very much so." Minato replied. He moved his hands slowly across every line his senpai's muscles made. This made Akihiko emit sounds of delight, thinking that Minato had the most special touch in the world.

Minato wrapped his arms around Akihiko's neck and pulled him down into another kiss. It was increasing in temperature in the room rapidly from the boys' actions. Akihiko's hands trailed down Minato's body as the boys kissed, rubbing his right hand on the pajama bottom area where Minato's crotch was. Minato let out a sudden gasp from Akihiko's sudden action.

Akihiko moved down and slid Minato's pants off with the socks along with it. Akihiko then slid off his own. Now both boys were left in only their underwear. Minato wearing blue and white briefs, and Akihiko in red boxers. Minato was completely entranced by the very large bulge in Akihiko's underwear. Akihiko leaned down again and trailed kisses from Minato's neck and went all the way down, until he started to put Minato's bulge in his mouth. Minato could barely contain himself from this action. Minato was gasping lightly until he suddenly shot his eyes open and let out a loud squeal that he immediately slapped his left hand over his mouth. He hoped that no one had heard him.

Akihiko had pulled out Minato's member and began sucking on it. He went all the way down and to the tip every time he bobbed his head up and down. Minato felt like he was in a world of pure ecstasy. Akihiko stopped going up and down and swirled his tongue around the head as he stroked Minato with his right hand. Minato had never experienced such a sensation in his life before. Minato kept his hand over his mouth as he gasped, but ran the fingers on his other hand through Akihiko's hair. Akihiko pulled off the rest of Minato's briefs and licked up and down on the side of Minato's member. He went down lower and started sucking on Minato's balls. Minato kept making muffled sounds through his hand, until Akihiko pulled his hand away from his hand.

"W-what are y-you…"

"Don't be embarrassed about it. I want to hear the sounds you make." Akihiko said to Minato in a sultry voice.

Akihiko sat up, Minato being between his legs, and pulled off his own boxers so now both of them were completely naked. Minato's eyes bugged out when he saw Akihiko's massive manhood. It was fully erect and looked to be around eight inches. Akihiko could tell how awestruck Minato was and he grabbed Minato's penis and rub it against his own manhood with his right hand. Minato gasped out from how warm Akihiko felt and how indescribable the sensation felt.

"Sh-shit, Minato…" Akihiko moaned out. Minato couldn't say any words, he was just repeating 'hah' 'hah' 'hah' with his face being completely red. Akihiko smirked at Minato's adorable face.

"I love the sounds you're making, Minato." Minato grew redder. He reached over and rubbed Akihiko's tip. Akihiko grunted from the delightful touch Minato possessed.

"O-oh, Sh-shit, Minato!" Akihiko loved the magic Minato's hands had.

"P-please, senpai… I can't wait much longer…" Minato barely gasped out.

Akihiko released both of them and moved off of Minato. He flipped the younger boy onto his stomach. He started to rub Minato's ass, making Minato shiver in pleasure. Akihiko move apart Minato's ass cheeks and started to lick at Minato's rear entrance.

"AaaaAAAAAH…!" Minato had no way of controlling his actions now.

Akihiko licked up and down and around, wetting Minato's rear hole all over.

"A-A-Aki… aaahh…" Minato moaned out, starting to grip onto the bed covers.

Akihiko started to stick his tongue into Minato and caressed Minato's balls with his free hand.

"AGH!" Akihiko was making Minato experience true euphoria with everything he did. Minato could feel the warm and wet protrusion move about inside him. He shuffled about and tried getting Akihiko to stop.

"What's the matter, Minato?"

"Y-you're doing everything to make me feel good… really good. I wanna return the favor." Minato said, turning around and scooting over to the boxer.

Minato leaned down and took Akihiko's manhood into his mouth and bobbed his head up and down as much as he could. It was difficult for Minato to get the whole thing into his mouth, but he tried to get as much of it as he could down his gullet since he greatly desired to give his senpai as much pleasure he gave him.

"Ho-Holy shit, Minato!" Akihiko moaned out, not expecting Minato to do something like that. Minato swirled his tongue around Akihiko's tip as if it were a lollipop, giving it a hard suck until he let go with an audible pop sound. Akihiko's member was coated in his lover's saliva. Minato laid down on his back and spread his legs apart some. He reached down and grabbed onto his testicles to lift them up a bit.

"P-please. Aki… put it in. I want you really bad." Minato gasped out, his heart feeling as if it were beating out of his chest.

"As you command, leader." Akihiko said with lust in his voice.

Akihiko complied with the younger boy and slowly slid himself into Minato's entrance. Minato squeezed his eyes shut as he bit his lower lip from the intense mixture of pain and ecstasy.

"A-are you alright, Minato?"

"Please, k-keep going, Aki. It feels too good." Minato moaned out.

Akihiko loved the moans he was causing Minato to emit. He leaned down and started kissing as he started to move his hips faster. Minato would let out moans between the two sets of mouths, creating a pleasurable vibration feeling for Akihiko. Minato had one of his hands gripping onto the bed covers so tightly that his hand was turning white. Both Akihiko and Minato were breathing heavily, both bodies sweating from the intense heat and faces red. Akihiko would pant as he said things such as 'Yes, yes, yes…' or 'Minatooo…' Minato could only gasp for air as Akihiko was going back and forth more rapidly.

"Y-you feel so t-tight and warm inside, Minato…" Akihiko muttered.

Akihiko stopped suddenly and then wrapped his arms around Minato, turning the two around so Akihiko was laying down and Minato still sitting on Akihiko's cock. Akihiko thrust up and down slowly at first, but soon began to pick up the pace again. Minato started to make himself hop on Akihiko, making the sensation feel even better. Minato arched his back and threw his head back as well, eyes shut tightly as he let himself be enveloped in the moment. Akihiko gazed up at Minato through half-lidded eyes, he too being consumed by the events currently transpiring. He looked down at Minato's erection that was bopping up and down swiftly every time Minato bounced himself on Akihiko. He reached over and started to stroke it rapidly with his right hand for Minato. It caused Minato to let out a sharp gasp. The intensity of the room had reached its maximum point.

"Oh, sh-shit, Minato… I feel like I'm gonna…" Akihiko breathed out.

"So… am I, Aki, please… don't stop, don't… stop." Minato gasped out, feeling like he was about to hit his climax.

Akihiko began pumping Minato's member at a rapid pace just as Minato bounced faster as well.

"Min-a-t-t-t…"

"A-ki-hi-i-k…"

"Oooh!" The two exclaimed as they both climaxed at that instant. Akihiko's semen shot up far into the inner chambers of Minato's ass, and Minato came just as intensely, shooting his own fluids that splattered onto the boxer's face and torso. The white opaque liquid leaked through Minato's asshole with Akihiko still inside him. Minato's semen on Akihiko started to drip down Akihiko's face. It felt warm and sticky against his skin.

The two panted heavily, trying to take in as much air as they could. Akihiko took his left hand and scooped up some of the semen on his cheek with two of his fingers. He put the liquid cover fingers into his mouth and sucked them clean.

"Mm, you taste so good, Minato." Akihiko said in a low exhausted tone, a smirk on his face. Minato still sat on Akihiko, gasping for breaths, resting his hands on Akihiko's chest. He was trying to keep himself from collapsing onto the boy underneath him.

"S-sorry… about the mess." Minato gasped out.

"It's okay. I loved it." Akihiko smiled at Minato who returned it. Minato slowly got off of Akihiko and dropped onto his stomach. Akihiko reached over and grabbed his T-shirt. He used it to wipe himself off as well as Minato.

"W-won't you ruin your shirt like that?" Minato questioned.

"Nah, don't worry about it. It's not like shirts are a scarce thing." Akihiko tossed the shirt aside and laid down onto the bed, both still naked. Minato rolled over and onto Akihiko, resting his head on his senpai's chest. He could hear Akihiko's heartbeat, still beating quickly.

"That... was great, Minato. I'm so glad I finally got to make love with you." Akihiko whispered to the younger boy.

"It was more amazing than I thought was possible." Minato was close to falling asleep, having a grin across his face.

"I love you, Minato… so much."

"I love you so much too, Aki. My Aki." Minato said back to his lover, falling asleep soon after. Akihiko caressed Minato's head as he too fell asleep.

[There were probably a lot you screaming at your devices saying "Fuck him in the butt already!" at some point, wasn't there? XD]

[Christ, this went on a lot longer than I previously wanted it to be o.o]


	7. Chapter 7

[Sorry about not updating for a little while. I just recently got a game that I was waiting two months for and played it for so many hours straight.]

The Sixth Night

Date: September, Wednesday 23rd.

The time was 9:09 AM. In Minato's room was him and Akihiko. Akihiko was asleep on his back, one arm over his head, with Minato using him as a pillow. The whole night, Akihiko held onto Minato tightly as they slept, embracing his lover's warmth. Akihiko moved his arm down and rubbed his eyes as he let out a yawn. Minato awoke soon after him.

"Mph, looks like we were asleep for more than twelve hours." Akihiko muttered, sitting up. Minato was still clutching onto his senpai, not wanting to get up just yet.

"Uh, as much as I love your touch, could you let go so I could get some clothes on?" Akihiko chuckled a bit. He and Minato were both still nude from the special event that went on the previous night.

"Mm, alright…" Minato moped, releasing Akihiko. Akihiko got up and looked as to wear he threw his underwear and pants. He walked over to near the desk chair as Minato was still laying down, staring at his senpai's gorgeous ass. Akihiko only dressed himself from the waist down and tossed some of Minato's clothes over at him, smacking him in the face. Minato pulled them off his head and glared at Akihiko. He just laughed at the face the younger boy was giving him.

"Do it for me, Aki." Minato whined, handing him the blue and white shirt.

"I never thought that our super powerful leader would act so childish." Akihiko laughed a bit.

"But I'm siiiick." Minato whined.

"Barely." Akihiko took the clothes and dressed Minato. He leaned down and gave him a loving kiss.

They were interrupted when someone began knocking on Minato's door rather loudly.

"Yo, Minato. Akihiko-senpai. You two in there?" It was Junpei. Akihiko answered the door. Junpei was a little surprised seeing how Akihiko was at the moment.

"Um, I figured you'd be here. But, uh, why are you…" Junpei questioned Akihiko.

"I overslept and came to check on Arisato right after I woke up. And it was getting hot in his room. He said he didn't mind." Akihiko answered. Junpei glanced behind Akihiko's shoulder, only seeing Minato sitting on his bed yawing lightly as he rubbed one of his eyes.

"You were here last night too, right?" Asked Junpei.

Yeah, pretty much. Why you ask?"

"Well, I thought I heard some weird sounds last night…" Akihiko felt a jolt rush down his spine from what Junpei just said. Akihiko still held onto a straight face, knowing if he lost his composure, it'd make Junpei very suspicious.

"Okay, what was it you heard?" Akihiko asked.

"I thought you were saying 'Oh shit' or something like that." Responded Junpei. Akihiko needed to think fast.

"We were playing cards and I was saying Oh shit because Arisato was beating me three games in a row. I thought I was gonna win at one point until he did some last minute move that made him win." Akihiko quickly came up, glaring back at Minato to help convince Junpei with this charade.

"Mope all you want, senpai. You know I got you good." Minato said, sticking his tongue out at Akihiko, instantly picking up the act Akihiko was performing.

"W-well, I guess that answers that then. But, next time, could ya not get so competitive, senpai? Sounded like you were punching a wall from some banging I heard." Junpei sighed, walking away after talking to the boxer.

Akihiko closed the door and waited a few moments before going back to Minato. He plopped down next to Minato, letting out a breath.

"Damn, that was way too close." Akihiko said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"How'd you learn to act so well, senpai?" Minato said, chuckling a bit.

"You can't show fear to your enemies, be it shadows or in the boxing ring. You gotta learn how to keep a poker face on at all times." Akihiko said back, puffing out his chest in a display of pride. Minato just started poking at the side of his senpai's head repeatedly.

"Whatever you say, Aki."

"H-hey, it's true. Humph. Anyway, I gotta go get some clothes on and I'm starving from last night." Akihiko said, having a smirk from the last part after swatting away Minato's hand. Minato pulled Akihiko over before he got up to leave and planted another kiss on the muscular boxer's lips.

"Love you, Aki." Minato whispered.

"Love you too. You know, that reminds me: You gave me a pet name, and I still haven't given you one."

"I'm all ears….Aki." Minato teased.

"Um, how about…" Akihiko pondered for a minute. "Maybe Blue Pup?"

"Blue Pup?" Minato chuckled. "Why that?"

"Well, cause… you got beautiful blue hair and loves dogs so much. And you're cute like a puppy." Akihiko informed Minato, brushing the young boy's hair out of his face.

"Aw, that's sweet! I love it." Minato said, having a bigger smile come across his face. Akihiko pulled Minato in again to kiss and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"You're too cute with that smile of yours! I can barely handle it!"

It was about 9:20 AM as Akihiko walked down the stairs, in a different set of clothes. In the lounge was Yukari and Fuuka sitting at the table close to the kitchen, talking to each other. Junpei was playing a game along with Ken, who was looking through a comic on one of the couches. Mitsuru was sipping tea along with Aigis, sitting on the other couch. Shinjiro was standing in front of the message board near the front door office. Everyone had very little to do throughout the week since the storm had started. Though, it seemed as though the storm was passing, seeing as though the rain was not as hard as it has been since it all started and the sky wasn't cloaked in darkness today.

"Good morning, Akihiko-senpai." Fuuka said to him when she noticed him walk by.

"Morning, Yamagishi, Takeba." Akihiko said back, making a 'Hello' gesture.

"Morning, senpai. How's Minato-kun today?" Yukari asked.

"He's pretty much made a full recovery. I just asked him to still take things easy and relax so he doesn't relapse or anything." Akihiko said back to her, having a relieved smile that his Minato didn't have to keep suffering from his illness for much longer. Akihiko went back up the stairs to Minato's room.

"Doesn't it seem like this whole week has been the same routine happening, Fuuka?"

"What do you mean, Yukari-chan?"

"Well, Akihiko comes down later than he usually does, goes get food for Minato-kun, then leaves and doesn't come down for the rest of the day. That doesn't seem kind of weird to you?" Yukari said back. Fuuka tried to keep herself from fidgeting, remembering what Akihiko had confessed to her a while ago.

"I think it's just Akihiko-senpai trying to be a better friend and pass the time since he can't do the same exercise routine he would do every day."

"I still can't help but get a funny feeling about something…"

Meanwhile, the two boys were in Minato's room, when they heard Koromaru scratching at the foot of the door, whimpering to be allowed in. Akihiko walked over and when he opened the door, Koromaru dashed in without any sort of 'okay'. He immediately jumped onto Minato's bed and got onto Minato's lap. Minato laughed a bit and pet the energetic dog's head.

"Heh-heh, I told you that Blue Pup was a good pet name for you." Akihiko said to Minato. Minato picked up Koromaru and the dog started to lick Minato's nose. It really tickled Minato, but he liked that Koromaru was trying to make him feel better in his own doggy ways. Akihiko thought what was happening before him was too cute. He decided to take a picture of it on his phone. He made it his wallpaper.

"Have you ever seen how adorable you can be, my Blue Pup?" Asked Akihiko, showing Minato the picture. Minato started to blush lightly as he held onto Koromaru.

"How can you say stuff like that with a straight face?"

"Because I know it's true." Minato started to blush a deeper shade of red.

"It feels kind of weird hearing that from anybody, really."

"W-why's that?"

"Well, it's because I've been pretty much alone for ten years. I lost my parents, so I've jumped from place to place. People would know about the incident and all I'd get was pity. I'd try making friends wherever I went, but I'd end up leaving them every time. So I just decided to stop trying. I pretty much decided to turn off my feelings altogether. Everyone in every school I attended saw me as that one mute kid. A lot of the time I'd freak so many people out when they heard me say like one word or something. Only time I ever felt anything was through my music. I'd pretty much keep it my ears the moment I got out the front door." Minato was starting to have small droplets form in the side of his eyes.

"I didn't think that things would so drastically change when I came to this dorm. Especially finding out someone like me for some reason. I started to feel things again and I was frustrated for a long time because of it, since I thought that history would most likely repeat itself again." Minato was trying to fight back a choke forming in his throat from talking.

Akihiko suddenly pulled Minato into a very tight embrace.

"Please, don't feel like that. I've seen you suffer enough as it is. You don't deserve to feel like that at all." Akihiko whispered into Minato's ear.

"Akihiko… why… why did you even choose me of all people? I've always thought that of all people, you'd be with Mitsuru-senpai."

"Because you give me reason. Before I would fight so no one would lose any loved ones since I lost my little sister at a young age. Before, I was impressed by your potential for fighting. At first, I thought we'd just be friends. But at some point, when I saw you fight more and more, I started to see an unbelievably amazing combination of strength and beauty. I felt like you were going to be stronger than I thought was ever imaginable. But, I also felt like I saw anger every time." Akihiko held onto Minato even closer.

"I didn't know what the cause of it was, and no one else seemed to have even noticed. It made me so upset to see no one try to help you. I knew how it felt like to believe that you couldn't trust anyone with your feelings before. I would see you alone so much at school, or go right to your room without saying a word to anyone. And when I saw you with someone, you would seem out of it, seeming… annoyed or something. I wanted to try to talk to you to see if I could help, but I felt something stop me. I was confused as to why, that is until I started to think of the real possibility. Soon after, trying to figure out a way to get a smile to come to your face completely took over my thoughts." Akihiko was now having droplets come out of his eyes.

"When…when I saw that smile for the first time when you were really sick, I never felt so happy in my entire life. Knowing that I got to be the one to bring such a joy-filled smile made me feel so special. I felt like… I was meant to be the one to bring joy back into your life. Just like I felt like you'd be the one to do the same for me." Akihiko told Minato through tear filled eyes and a smile across his face. Minato wrapped his arms around Akihiko tightly this time, burying his face into Akihiko's chest until he pulled back.

"You are, Akihiko! You really do make me feel so happy and loved and protected. Because, the truth is… I never thought that I'd have a purpose for staying alive…"

"What?!"

"I felt like for so long that there wasn't a point to anything. I felt like I was just someone in the background. Someone who'd lose everything soon after getting it, being fooled for believing that I found something that made things worthwhile." Minato grabbed onto Akihiko's hand and started to squeeze it.

"I… I never told anyone this, but… the first day I awoke to my Persona Orpheus, I wasn't paying attention to what Yukari was doing when the shadow attacked us on the roof. I was so scared until I noticed her Evoker on the ground. I thought it was a normal gun, so I thought that it was my chance to end everything right then and there by my own hand. So when I thought that I was one of the few that could fight against these monsters, I thought for the first time that I had a purpose. That is until I thought what we were doing meant absolutely nothing. I knew I would never get a chance, so I tried getting the shadows to kill me."

"M-Minato!"

"I thought that you guys would see something was up if I just stood there and did nothing and jump in at the last second to help me, so I tried to put on a little act. Especially because I didn't want any of you to die. But, every time I got close to death, someone would always save me. It made me so mad for the longest time." Minato had streams of tears flowing down his cheeks.

"That is until I started seeing your concern for me in battle. I decided after that to try to stop. And because I decided to stop, I got to be with you, Akihiko. I got to fall in love and be with Akihiko, because… because… you saved my life, Akihiko. You're my guardian angel!" Minato looked up at Akihiko, smiling at his senpai even with the tears cascading forth.

"M-Minato, I'm… I'm so sorry! I should've noticed and helped you so much sooner!" Akihiko wrapped Minato as close to him as he possibly could, waves of guilt rushing through him.

"You're not to blame for anything, Akihiko. What matters is that you're here with me right now, and… and thank you… for choosing me," Minato barely hiccupped out.

Akihiko went down and kissed Minato and put in the kiss as much love he possibly could, wanting for Minato to never doubt his feelings for the younger boy.

"I love you, Minato. So much that you'll never be alone again."

"I love you with all my heart, Aki. I don't have to be scared with you next to me.

The two of them didn't expect for the day to take this kind of turn, but they were so thankful that they had absolutely nothing to hide from each other ever again. They also didn't expect for someone to be aware of what just happened. Standing in front of Minato's door was Junpei. Junpei had come up when he heard Koromaru bark from Minato's room. He figured that Minato was asleep again and didn't bother to think of the possibility of Akihiko still being in there. Earlier, Junpei had slightly opened the door without anyone noticing, but he instantly stopped when he heard Minato talking. He heard everything the two had said to each other. He heard when Minato told Akihiko how he felt weird hearing the things Akihiko would say to him. Junpei had heard every single word from there. Junpei backed away from the door slowly and walked a little bit away.

"D-damn… Never would've guessed that either of them were really like that." Junpei muttered to himself. He left and went back to the lounge.

To be continued.

[Oh my god, writing this along with the song I was listening to made me so close to tearing up myself. T-T]


	8. Chapter 8

The Sixth Day Continued

The time was 10:02 AM. Akihiko was still holding onto Minato, caressing his head as he had his face nestled into his senpai's chest. Akihiko had been trying to soothe the younger boy by saying comforting things and keeping him close. He never expected for Minato to have been carrying such a heavy load of stress within him for so long. Minato was happy to have confessed his dark feelings to Akihiko, but he still felt horrible having to relive the traumatic events of his past.

"It's alright, Minato. It's alright. I'm always going to be here for you. There's nothing to worry about." Akihiko cooed, stroking Minato's back.

Koromaru was also trying to help Minato. He was nestled in Minato's lap, trying to protect him like Akihiko was. Minato was beginning to calm down. His breathing became less erratic and tried drying his face off from the tears.

"I don't know what I would've done without you, Aki." Minato whispered in low voice. He reached down and gripped Akihiko's hand tightly.

"I love you, Aki…"

"I love you too. And don't you ever forget that, my Blue Puppy." Akihiko said as he wiped the rest of Minato's tears away. Minato smiled up at his senpai. Akihiko leaned down and gave him a loving kiss.

They were interrupted when someone came into Minato's room unexpectedly.

"Hey, Minato-kun. I just wanted to-What the?!" Yukari said then shrieked at the sight in front of her. Both boys darted away from each other, completely surprised beyond believe.

"T-Takeba! What are…?" Akihiko was too shocked to speak in proper sentences.

"I-I'll just go, and… Oh god." Yukari quickly shut the door and left in a hurried pace. Akihiko quickly went after her to make sure nothing would happen that would cause problems, leaving the door wide open. Koromaru ran out as well, trailing Akihiko. Minato sat alone in his room, shaking, feeling afraid.

"I-I-I didn't want anyone to find out." Minato was beginning to feel terrible, feeling the inside of his stomach churn in pain.

Akihiko ran up to the third floor, seeing if Yukari was there. He spotted her walking towards her room. He quickly ran after her and stopped her before she went in.

"Takeba, wait!"

"S-senpai… Oh god, I can't believe what I saw in there!"

"Takeba, if you could just…"

"How long has this been going on!? Is this why you've been spending all hours of the day with Minato-kun!?"

"W-we…we…"

"I thought we were a team, senpai! Friends that didn't need to hide anything from each other!"

"If I could just…"

"I thought you knew how I felt about Minato-kun!"

"I-I did, but…"

"Then why did you go take Minato-kun anyway?!" Yukari was becoming erratic.

"Takeba, listen to me! How about you just take a moment to calm down and think about how Minato feels. For god's sake, he wanted to die for years!"

Yukari was completely caught off guard from Akihiko's statement.

'W-what the Hell are you saying!?"

"You should instead listen to Minato, seeing as though you already know about us…"

Yukari tried regaining her composure and took a breath.

"Okay, senpai. And… sorry about that."

The two of them went down stairs to the second floor and towards Minato's room. They were at the foot of the stairs when they heard loud and repetitive coughing coming from Minato's room. The two glanced at each other for a second and ran over to the room. They went in and Minato was laying down on his bed, constantly coughing and hacking.

"Minato! What's the matter?!" Akihiko was very concerned. He noticed that Minato was sweating very much and had a pained expression on his face.

"I… I feel horrible… my stomach feels like it is getting ripped apart from the inside." Minato barely chocked out.

"D-don't worry, Minato. You'll be fine, I'm here for you." Akihiko said, wanting to comfort Minato, but also trying to assure himself as well. He was panicking from the sudden nosedive Minato's condition made.

"What do you think caused this?" Yukari questioned.

"My guess is that it's because of all the stress he's had today…"

Minato could tell how Akihiko was feeling, so he looked up at the older boy through half-lidded eyes and held onto his senpai's hand. Akihiko looked at his hand and back at Minato. He made a small smile at Akihiko, making Akihiko start to feel better. Yukari could tell that Minato really cared about Akihiko and Akihiko felt the same.

"I'll go get some medicine and water for him. Be right back." Yukari said as she left for the ground floor.

"I-is… Yukari… mad?" Minato weakly muttered.

"She was surprised, but, said she'd listen to what we'd have to say. But, please, just take it easy for now, Blue Pup." Akihiko said, cradling Minato.

A few moments later Yukari returned to Minato's room with a small cup of liquid medicine and some water.

"Here you go, senpai." Yukari said as she handed the medicine to Akihiko.

"Thanks, Takeba. Open up, Minato." Akihiko said as he slowly poured the medicine while Minato sipped it. Minato grimaced slightly.

"Ugh. Is it really that hard to make this stuff not taste nasty?" Minato said in a low voice. Akihiko just chuckled. He handed Minato the water to help relax him.

"I… I'm sorry, you guys. It's my fault that Minato-kun is like this right now. I shouldn't have barged in earlier. I'll… just see you guys later." Yukari sighed out. She started walking out until Minato called out to her.

"D-don't beat yourself over it, Yukari. I-it's not your fault."

"Minato-kun… Thanks. Hope you get better. And you guys don't need to explain anything to me." Yukari left after that, shutting the door behind her.

"How you doing, Blue Pup?"

"I'm… I'm tired." Minato muttered, rubbing his eyes as he nestled more into Akihiko's chest. "Mm. Your chest is my sanctuary, and your arms are my castle walls."

"Then the rest of me is your Knight in shining armor and you're my precious princess." Akihiko said back.

"Oi, I'm not a girl, Aki."

"You're right, you're cuter than a princess. And I'll be right by your side to protect you." After Akihiko said that, Minato fell asleep in Akihiko's arms. He gently set the blue haired boy down and watched over him.

Time had passed and it was now 5:47 PM. Minato woke up, back to the condition he was in before the temporary relapse. He looked over and Akihiko was at Minato's desk, asleep. He appeared to have been looking at some of the other drawings Minato had made. Minato chuckled lightly. It had been nearly a week since he's seen the whole group. He figured it wouldn't be a terrible idea to go down to the lounge and at least interact with them for a little while. He was still dressed in pajama bottoms, socks and an indigo colored T-shirt as he headed for the stairs. It was still a bit of a challenge to walk, but he didn't feel like his legs would give out on him.

Back in the lounge, the SEES members were sitting around the center area. Mitsuru was on one chair. Junpei and Yukari on one couch. Ken and Aigis on the other couch. Fuuka sat at the other chair, Koromaru at her feet. And Shinjiro was standing against the wall near the couch. Minato was making his way down the stairs at a slower pace to make sure his legs didn't decide right there to stop functioning correctly and make him fall. He was at the bottom of them when Mitsuru noticed him from the corner of her eye as she was reading her book.

"Oh, Arisato." Mitsuru's statement made everyone bolt their heads towards the stairs. Minato was making his way over.

"Minato-kun! You're out of bed." Fuuka said.

"Are you well enough to be here?" Ken asked.

"A lot better than from before. It's been almost a week since I've seen most of you guys and wanted to come down for at least a little while."

"What about Akihiko-senpai? Wasn't he with you?" Junpei wondered.

"He fell asleep at my desk. He's already done enough for me this whole time, I didn't want to bother him."

"It's very nice to see you doing better." Fuuka remarked. Koromaru barked in agreement. He barked a few times after that too.

"Koro-san asks if Minato is feeling better after crying in front of Akihiko-san." Aigis translated for the dog. Minato jumped slightly, not expecting that Koromaru would 'say' anything like that. The others were surprised by what Aigis had said.

"Minato-kun crying? What made you so upset?" Fuuka questioned.

"Uhhh…" Minato had no idea as to what he should say. Junpei rubbed the back of his neck, figuring it was what he had accidentally overheard earlier.

"So there really was something upsetting you, Minato-san?" Asked Ken.

"Was it something Akihiko did?" Mitsuru asked, upset of the possibility of Akihiko doing something after she told him not to have any more disputes.

"N-no, no. Of course it wasn't because of Aki…HIKO-SENPAI!" Minato was running on thin ice now.

"Minato-san referred Akihiko-san as 'Aki', indicating that he has a very familiar relationship with him." Aigis remarked. The SEES members were perplexed as to what was going on.

"What do you mean by 'very familiar', Aigis-san?" Ken asked. Everyone just turned their heads towards Minato. He was starting to turn red.

"Alright! Alright!" Minato yelled out. Hearing Minato yell like that startled everybody. Akihiko was in Minato's room when he woke up, thinking he heard Minato yell. He looked over at the bed and noticed that Minato was gone.

"Oh, shit!" Akihiko grunted, hurriedly exiting the room. He made his way down the stairs when he heard Minato yell out something else.

"I'm acting so weird because I love Akihiko! And I wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for him!" Minato exclaimed in a loud voice, his face turning extremely red from his confession. Akihiko stopped dead in his tracks, blushing wildly as well. Everybody just stared at Minato. They were completely flabbergasted.

"What do you mean by 'wouldn't be alive'?" Mitsuru questioned.

"I…I've said enough as it is." Minato said, turning around to go back to his room until he saw Akihiko standing behind him.

"A-Akihiko… I'm… sorry about that." Minato squeaked out, trying to get past him. Akihiko stopped him when he grabbed his hand.

"It's alright, Minato. There's no reason for me to be upset or anything." Akihiko gave Minato a comforting smile. It made Minato feel better, bringing back a smile to his face.

"So Sanada-san is really gay?" Ken asked.

"I wouldn't label it like that. I love Minato and only Minato." Akihiko responded. Minato buried his face in his hands, turning very red from Akihiko's statement. Akihiko laughed at Minato and Minato just punched his senpai's shoulder. When looking around, some SEES members were not as surprised.

"Some of the group present do not seem to be alarmed with this new information." Aigis said out.

"I could tell how Akihiko has felt for a long time now." Mitsuru said.

"Akihiko-san told me about it one day when I saw him acting odd." Said Fuuka.

"I accidentally walked in on them kissing earlier today…" Yukari confessed.

"*sigh* I overheard them saying to each other how they felt earlier today, too." Junpei admitted.

"Wow, this had to be the worst kept secret in history." Minato remarked.

"Well it is better that they know, anyway. You know hard it is to make up a lie right on the spot?" Akihiko chuckled, patting Minato on the back. Minato looked at him and sighed lightly. Afterwards Minato held onto his head.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Akihiko asked.

"That yelling made me feel lightheaded. Now I got a head-splitting headache…"

"Well, come on. Let's get you back to your room, Blue Puppy."

"Gah! D-don't call me that in front of them, b-baka!" Minato became really embarrassed at Akihiko as he just laughed at the blue haired boy. They both walked away while the SEES members tried getting a handle on what happened.

"Don't tell me we gotta suffer hearing the two of them act like that now…" Junpei groaned. Mitsuru chuckled lightly.

"What's funny, Mitsuru-senpai?" Junpei asked.

"I'm just glad that Akihiko doesn't have to keep hiding how he really is now."

"I actually think that they're a cute couple." Fuuka giggled.

Akihiko and Minato were back in Minato's room. Minato was rubbing his temples, glad that he didn't need to worry about his relationship getting out anymore. But he wondered if it was okay with Akihiko.

"Hey, Aki. Are you worried about our relationship getting out to everybody at school?"

"Meh. Not really. There's nothing to worry about. Especially because if everybody knows, then no one will be hitting on either of us anymore."

"You don't think any guys are going to make fun of you or anything?"

"Nah. I am the captain of the boxing team. It would be a really bad decision to mess with me. An even worse mistake if anyone tries to hurt you because of it." Akihiko said as he cracked his knuckles.

"So, we can spend anytime we can at school together then?"

"Of course. It's gonna be hard enough to think during class with you taking over my thoughts. I'm gonna be dashing for your class every time the lunch period starts and when school lets out." Akihiko said, sitting down next to Minato.

"Aw, you really are the perfect boyfriend." Minato said, wrapping himself around Akihiko's arm.

"That's cause you're my Minato. And my Minato is gonna stay happy or so help me, I will sock someone in the face."

"I'm always going to be happy as long as you're in my life." Minato rested his head against Akihiko's shoulder.

"So will I, Minato. I'll be happy as long as I'm right by your side."


	9. Chapter 9

The Seventh Day

Date: September, Thursday 24th.

The storm was gone and the break from school was over. Students were now to return to class today. Most SEES members had already headed for Gekkoukan High, except Minato, who was waiting outside of Akihiko's door. Akihiko suddenly barged out, finally ready for school.

"Sorry, about that! L-let's go, Minato." Akihiko said, rushing out the front door with Minato so they could get onto the monorail quickly. Minato chuckled lightly as Akihiko dragged him. While the two were walking together as they entered the school's front gate, Minato and Akihiko were listening to the music on Minato's mp3. Akihiko was interested as to what Minato would listen to all the time. There was an earbud in Minato's right ear and Akihiko had one in his left ear.

"Whoa! I never heard of this kind of music. Sounds cool." Akihiko commented.

"Haven't you listened to music, Aki?"

"Well, never anything specific. I'd only hear what was around stores and inside buildings." Akihiko responded. Minato just laughed a bit with how Akihiko was in awe with song playing.

The two of them got near Minato's homeroom class when Minato had stopped playing his music. Akihiko was about to leave for his class on the next floor. The school had a fair number of people there, but it wasn't as crowded as it could get yet.

"Well, I better get to my class before the late bell rings." Akihiko said.

"And whose fault was that?" Minato chuckled.

"Sh-shut up. Heh, well anyway. See ya later." Akihiko said and gave Minato a light peck on his lips. All the students around the two gasped in shock as to what they just saw, but the boys didn't even seem to notice. Minato smiled as he waved to Akihiko as he ran up the stairs and waved bye to Minato. Minato went into his class and sat at his desk, Yukari and Junpei already at their own.

"I was wondering when you were gonna show up." Junpei said to him.

"Heh, I was waiting for Akihiko since he was running late this morning."

"You two really seem to be inseparable." Yukari remarked.

"Yeah, I still can't believe that you and Akihiko-senpai are a thing…" Junpei said.

"I know, it's great, isn't it?" Minato chuckled.

"I've never seen you so happy before, Minato-kun. Or happy at all, really…" Yukari said.

"It's because I finally have a reason to be." Minato began to blush lightly. The bell rang suddenly and the group's teacher walked in and started class.

It was now mid-day, and the bell for lunch break rang. When Minato stepped out of his class, and just as Akihiko said before, he was hurriedly making his way down the stairs to Minato.

"I said I'd be here right when the bell rings, didn't I, Blue Pup?" Akihiko said.

"You did, Aki. Glad to see how much you wanted to be with me." Minato answered.

"Of course I did." Akihiko said as he grabbed Minato's hand. They decided to go to the roof for their lunch break. Akihiko had pulled out an instant beef ramen bowl and Minato took out two bento boxes.

"Here, Aki. I made you this." Minato said as he handed him one of the bento boxes.

"Whoa, you made this?! Looks awesome. Thanks." Akihiko thanked.

"Well, it's because I noticed you usually eat something not so great for lunch and I wanted to make you something fresh nutritious." Minato said as Akihiko took a bite of one of the small slabs of meat.

"This is so good!" Akihiko praised. Minato laughed at little at Akihiko.

"Great. Then be sure you eat all of it, INCLUDING the vegetables." Minato said.

"Yeah, yeah, I will, mom." Akihiko mocked. The two laughed heartedly with each other.

After the two had finished, they stayed up on the roof talking to each other, passing the time for when the bell rings. They were holding each other's hands the whole time.

"It's nice seeing the sky clear and blue after that huge typhoon." Minato commented.

"Yeah, especially along with this great view of all of Port Island from up here. I'd see this view all the time when Shinji would skip class and fall asleep up here." Akihiko reminisced.

"Shinjiro-san does seem like a really good guy. Even if he doesn't show it. It's kind of like how I used to be." Minato said back.

"He really is. I was grateful to have him as a best friend when we were alone at the orphanage. Now I got all these great new friends. And even better, you to love, Blue Pup." Akihiko said as he rested his forehead against Minato's.

"And I got you, Aki." Minato smiled. They kissed each other when a second year student walked up onto the roof and noticed the two of them.

"Ugh, gross fags." He snorted. Akihiko got up and walked towards him to say something.

"Excuse me, but if you have any problems with it, you could just take up the issue with me." Akihiko said, cracking his knuckles with a loud crack coming from them along with a smirk across his face. The student just gulped as he turned pale and left the roof. Akihiko walked back to Minato and sat down.

"That was actually kind of funny." Minato said.

"The look on his face was pretty great." Akihiko chuckled.

"Though, we're probably gonna deal with more of that kind of shit for a while." Minato said.

"They can say what they want, but if they even so TRY to hurt you if I'm not around, I'm going to punch some teeth in." Akihiko grunted.

"I won't have anything to worry about as long as I have you." Minato said as he took hold of Akihiko's hand to give him a reassuring touch.

"Yeah, you're right. So, what do you want to do after school today?" Akihiko asked.

"I got Kendo practice today. I'm not sure if you want to do anything after that."

"Then how about I come by and watch you practice?" Akihiko suggested.

"Huh? Well if you really want to. I don't mind."

"You don't seem fond of the idea."

"I just figured that you'd have something better to do than watching me swing a stick sword around."

"I actually wanted to go to your Kendo tournament you had in the summer. But I thought that you'd think it was weird for only me to be there. I don't know how you went to so many of my boxing matches before without me noticing."

"Ancient Japanese secret, young Grasshopper." Minato mocked.

"Hey, I'm the older one here."

"And I'M the team leader."

"Tch. You moron."

"Maybe, but I'm YOUR moron." Minato said as he kissed Akihiko.

The final bell rang, and students were shuffling out of their classes, going home or to clubs. Minato left and went for the gymnasium, getting himself ready for Kendo practice. Minato was in his Kendo gear when Yuko came up to him.

"Oh, Minato-kun! I heard that you got really sick over the break. Are you feeling alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, thanks for the concern, but I'm all good now." Minato answered.

"I like your enthusiasm. Go for it, Minato-kun!" The team manager cheered.

Minato put down his mask and went towards one of the other ready team members to practice with. Minato was a little rusty from his inactivity, but still went ahead to give it his all. With every swing his partner made, he'd parry and counter. He deflected each swing that went at him and he'd move swiftly enough to avoid contact. And he'd deal a blow with every opening he saw. His training session with that one partner ended with Minato not getting touched one. It seemed as though his nightly adventures into Tartarus was applicable to his daytime activities as well.

Minato pulled his protective mask off, having drips of sweat run down his forehead and side of his head as he panted. He looked over to the side and he saw Akihiko standing in the audience stands. Minato smiled and walked over to him, picking up one of the towels that was near the rest of the equipment.

"Hey, I didn't notice you were here yet, Aki." Minato said as he wiped his head.

"Heh-heh. You were really in the zone out there. You looked like you were fighting a shadow." Akihiko chuckled.

"I'm just glad to be able to practice again. It was so dull doing nothing in the dorm."

"Well there was some 'special' stuff we got to do, at least." Akihiko smirked.

"A-A-Aki, there are SOME things we should keep to ourselves." Minato said, blushing lightly as he had an embarrassed smile in his face.

"You really are cute when you blush like that." Akihiko commented, knowing he'd stir up Minato again from that. Which it did. Minato was blushing even more. While the two were talking, members of the Kendo team were staring at them, confused as to what was happening. They have never seen Minato act that way before.

"I gotta get back to practice before coach gets pissed. I'll meet you at the school gates." Minato said to Akihiko, giving him a small peck on the lips.

"Love ya." Minato said as he walked away.

"Love ya, too." Akihiko returned. Minato put the protective mask over his head again as he walked, stopping when he noticed everyone looking at him oddly.

"…Uh, what?" He asked.

"Um… are you and Akihiko-senpai…?" Kazushi stammered.

"Yes." Minato said bluntly. Everyone became even more surprised. "Akihiko is my boyfriend."

"W-well that's not really important. Come on guys, back to practicing." Yuko commanded. The Kendo members went ahead and complied. About an hour or so later, the coach had dismissed everyone to go on home. Minato decided to hit the showers first, starting to feel uncomfortable from how much he had sweated. Before he got to the locker-room, he was stopped by Yuko.

"Um, Minato-kun? Can I ask you something?" The team manager asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Minato said back.

"You said that you and Akihiko-senpai were really a…you know. When did that happen, though? And were you always…"

"It happened during the typhoon when I was sick. Akihiko was the only one who decided to take care of me when I decided to tell him how I felt. And I only realized how I was this year, but I love Aki and only Aki." Minato answered, feeling bubbly inside for saying the last line like Akihiko did to the SEES members.

"O-oh. Okay. As long as you're happy." Yuko said, letting Minato go into the locker-room.

Minato walked in front of the school entrance, making his way to the school gates where Akihiko was waiting. He started to move faster to Akihiko since he was a little late.

"Sorry. It was my fault for making you wait this time, heh-heh. I decided to take a shower after practice and also someone wanted to talk to me." Minato said as he stopped next to his senpai.

"Don't worry about it." Akihiko said, noticing Minato's hair dripping a bit. "You actually smell really nice, right now."

"Heh, Thanks. Are you hungry, Aki? You wanna stop anywhere?"

"Sure. Want to get Hagakure?"

Both boys were at Hagakure, slurping up noodles and conversing.

"So, why did someone want to talk to stop at practice?" Akihiko asked.

"It was the team manager, she was just surprised about you and me and asked me about it."

"No one on the team bothered you about it, did they?"

"No, no. Of course not. You and Yuko would beat their ass if they did."

"Ok, good."

"Heh-heh. You know, it's really nice to hear you care about my well-being so much."

"Why wouldn't I care? It's my job as your boyfriend to protect you and keep you happy."

"Aw. You're really sweet, Aki."

It was now dark out. The two of them were on the street making their way to the dorm. They have been talking to each other since they left the restaurant, holding each other's hands, enjoying the other's company. They were just about to get to the door when some man suddenly sprang out from the nearby alley. He held up a handgun.

"Give me all your money and valuables, you punks!" The man demanded. "Don't make me say it again, you nasty faggots!"

"Okay, that's it!" Akihiko exclaimed. Akihiko lunged himself forward and grabbed the man, both struggling intensely. They were fighting for hold of the gun, when everybody suddenly heard an ear piercing 'BANG' from the gun. Akihiko looked to see where Minato was, but didn't see him anywhere. That is until Minato suddenly came from the side and slammed his fist into the mugger's face, making him drop the gun as well as fall onto the concrete with a loud thud unconscious. Akihiko was relieved to see Minato okay, but Minato was looking at him horrified.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Akihiko questioned. Minato just pointed at Akihiko's shoulder. Akihiko looked at his eight shoulder and noticed that it was pouring blood out. The SEES members inside the dorm heard the gun and rushed out. They saw Minato holding onto Akihiko, trying to keep him standing up since he was feeling faint from blood loss.

"Quick! We have to get him to the hospital!" Mitsuru exclaimed.

It was around 10:16 PM. Akihiko was taken into the Municipal Hospital. He was now waking from after passing out and also going through surgery. He started feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder from where he was shot. He heard some grunting from the side of the room. He looked over and saw Minato. He had fallen asleep at the chair he was sitting at. Minato sat upright and let out a relieved breath of air.

"You're alright, Aki! That's such a relief. The doctors that I could have gone back home and waited, but I didn't want to leave you." Minato said getting closer to Akihiko.

"You have no idea how relieved I am right now. I thought that it was you who got shot when I didn't see where you went." Akihiko let out a relieved sigh as well, a few tears starting to come from his eyes.

"W-what's the matter, Aki?"

"I was going to be so pissed at myself if I lost you right after I told you that I'd always be there to be the one to protect you." Akihiko said, trying to wipe away his tears, but kept coming forth. Minato went over and kissed Akihiko passionately.

"And you did protect us. Sure, it was a little stupid and rash of you to charge at the guy, but you still did well."

"Heh, I didn't think I'd end up being checked into a hospital so soon again."

"Don't worry. The doctor's said you'd be out in no time. Just don't strain yourself or anything. I'll be the one taking care of you this time." Minato said to him.

"This is just a flesh wound. I could walk it off." Akihiko said, sounding smug. Minato suddenly embraced Akihiko tightly. Akihiko grimaced a bit since his shoulder was still hurting, but returned the hug.

"Now I know how you felt was I almost got killed by shadows…" Minato whispered, starting to tear up himself. A few pitter patters fell on Akihiko.

"I'm sorry, Minato. I never wanted you to worry. And I'm supposed to be the one to keep you from crying."

"It could've been a lot worse, but I was still so scared."

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."


	10. Chapter 10

Epilogue

Date: September, Monday 28th.

A few days passed after the incident. Akihiko was released from the hospital on Sunday and insisted he'd go back to his daily routine as if nothing had happened. Minato was a little nervous about it, but knew that his senpai was a strong man that would be okay in the end. The word about Akihiko taking a bullet to save Minato spread around like wildfire. Since then, people had stopped being so disturbed about Akihiko and Minato's relationship. No one had ever heard of somebody risking their lives to protect the person they loved. The student body was actually very astonished with how the two of them were completely open about each other since school started after the break. It had to take a lot of character to ignore any negativities towards them completely. In fact, some people would see them and say that they were very cute together.

Akihiko would still ask if Minato ever had any trouble with people bothering him for anything. Every time, Minato would laugh a little and say that everything was okay. Because of Akihiko, Minato seemed like a completely different person to everybody. He didn't always have his earbuds to ignore everything around him. He didn't just stare at everybody with a blank soulless expression. He had a smile on his face most of the time. He finally was happy with living and didn't see death as a solution to his emptiness. Akihiko and Minato were sitting on the roof one day after school had let out.

"Hey, Aki." Minato said, breaking the silence.

"What's up, Blue Pup?"

"Thank you. For being the light that brightened up my darkness." Minato said as he rested his head against Akihiko's shoulder. Akihiko sighed in happiness.

"I'm happy that I got to be the one to make you feel this way. In a weird way, that typhoon had to have been the best thing for us. It forced us to finally admit to each other how we really felt for the other. During the storm, I had a storm of emotions inside me."

"In a shining ray of light, my guardian angel came down during the darkest of times and saved me from the abyss of eternal darkness. That angel is you, by the way." Minato said.

"I figured." Akihiko chuckled as he leaned down and kissed Minato.

"Aww, how can anyone hate something this cute!?" Yukari squealed.

"Yukari-Chan! You're gonna get us caught!" Fuuka exclaimed. The two boys jerked their heads and saw the door to the school slightly open, with everybody peeking through.

"Have you guys been spying on us this whole time!?" Minato yelled out. Everybody walked out onto the roof.

"We assumed that the two of you would be up here." Mitsuru chuckled lightly.

"I knew it'd be a bad idea. I figured that we'd interrupt something."

"Junpei-san made no such remarks. Hypothesis is that he desired to spy along with the others." Aigis said.

"H-hey! That ain't true, Ai-Chan!" Junpei yelled out. Everybody just laughed.

"Great to have friends like this, isn't it?" Akihiko said as Minato nodded.

The End.

[Oh my god, it's over. T-T Sixty pages and 21,000+ words done in like a week. Thank you everybody that read this and gave me such positive reviews. I had a good time writing this and I hope you had as much fun reading it. Oh, and don't worry. I'm making a sequel. But, sadly, it won't be for a long time. It'll be about after the final battle with Nyx. Minato didn't die after the fight, but is instead an empty shell of a person. So, please wait for it until then. And if any of you that have friends that would be interested, tell them about this story. My aim is to always entertain and cheer up others.]


End file.
